Sunday, 18 March 2018

Pashtun movement: a watershed moment, Saira Bano Orakzai

The Pashtun movement
stands for nonviolence and peace; however, nonviolence not only entails
abstaining from violent actions but also from inflammatory discourse and
rhetoric

The
geographical conundrum of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas’ (FATA) role
as the backdoor of Pakistan packs the emotional punch of ‘Illaqa-e-ghair’,
meaning no-go area. Yet, this area is one of the world’s most complex regions;
used three times in history to serve divergent interests. Firstly, Pakistan’s
strategic interests since 1947; secondly, for Afghan Jihad against the Soviet
Union; thirdly, by transnational actors and the Taliban.

How
this territory has been used has played a significant role in portrayal of
conflicts enveloping this region. The sense of otherness generated by being
constitutionally separated from Pakistan created an unbridgeable gulf of
misunderstanding between the state of Pakistan and people of FATA. In the midst
of these misunderstandings, violation of human rights and war emerged the
Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in February 2018, led by the Pashtun youth.

The
movement emerged as a result of non-stop enforced disappearances and extra
judicial killings of tribal Pashtuns. Naqeebullah Mehsud’s killing in Karachi
was the trigger point for this protest, and ethnic discrimination against
tribal Pashtuns in other Pakistani provinces was its core grievance with the
people and the state of Pakistan. The successful ten day sit in by the Pashtun
youth in, created a new hope for the resolution of conflict in FATA. A new
window to see and listen to the tales of tribal miseries and despairs, the
inhuman conditions of IDPs, and the loss of hope felt by the returnees. As a
consequence, Pashtuns around the world started showing support for the cause.
Yet, new patterns started emerging in this movement, this time constructed
through an ethnic map and a myth of an imaginary historical idea of Pashtun
unity. Thereby, the plight of tribal people and conflict in FATA was
Pashtunised.

The
Pashtun movement stands for nonviolence and peace; however, nonviolence not
only entails abstaining from violent actions but also from inflammatory
discourse and rhetoric. Unsurprisingly, the open war of words against the
Pakistan military and state by the PTM leader, Manzoor Pashteen caused the
authorities in this country to turn to their old tricks. The PTM was declared
an anti-state movement and FIRs were registered against key leaders. Section
144 was imposed in Peshawar to stop any future long march.

The time is ripe for the people of the tribal
areas to make a clear choice; either to struggle for the restoration of rights,
peace and accountability or to struggle against this country’s institutions and
ideology, only to get entangled in a perpetual conflict

In
the midst of all this, who and what is to be blamed for derailing this
successful Pashtun spring? The state, PTM leader’s statements or the stretching
of PTM agenda from FATA issues to the broader agenda of Pashtun nationalism
across and beyond the borders? The support of the Afghan president and its
people in support of PTM mainstreamed Pashtun nationalism and side-tracked FATA
and the resolution of this protracted conflict.

FATA
faces a human and constitutional crisis. The people of the tribal areas face a
crucial question at this point in history. Are they ready to let FATA be
exploited for the fourth time in its history? From South Asian Muslim
nationalism, Kashmir Jihad to Afghan Jihad, the imaginary Ummah and Islam of
Taliban to Pashtun unity across and beyond borders — the Pashtuns of FATA have
suffered as a consequence of all these ideologies and movements.

FATA
needs a developmental and constitutional framework to rid itself of its
miseries, not an ethnic profile that extends into the next century. PTM demands
are constitutional and human rights centred, its leader’s voice is full of pain
and depicts a genuine concern for the tribal Pashtuns. But the question
remains: Are tribal people ready for another phase of unrest or insurgency?
Still framed as terrorists, do they deserve to be called anti-Pakistani or
traitors again, just because the PTM took on an ethnic dimension? Is it fair to
drag them into another experiment? Is FATA a lab for national and regional
actors to pursue respective interests?

FATA
is not voiceless any longer. The time is ripe for the people of the tribal
areas to make a clear choice; to struggle to restore rights, peace and
accountability or to struggle against this country’s institutions and ideology,
only to get entangled in a perpetual conflict. FATA is not a laboratory where
any ethnic, national or regional entity can experiment and make the lives of
people more miserable. All previous experiments in FATA have failed and
ultimately damaged the identity of the tribal people within Pakistan and the
fragile integrity of Pakistan.

FATA
needs to emerge from the ethnic vortex. Instead of articulating and moving
towards a solution for the problems of FATA, PTM has stretched its ideology to
an unknown La La land. Thus, derailing an already fragile reforms process for
FATA’s future. It is a high time that the government of Pakistan initiates the
long overdue FATA reforms and peace process based on development,
peacebuilding, accountability, constitutional rights, reforms, and addressing
human rights concerns and abuses. No single person, movement or institution has
the right to defame tribal people once again. FATA needs the support of all
ethnic groups of Pakistan, not just one. The people of FATA require their own
new modern leadership core that focuses on its interests, and voices its
concerns to resolve this conflict without inflicting more harm to its people or
dragging unnecessarily towards any fiction or insurgency.

The
writer is a Research Fellow at Harvard University, she can be contacted at
sorakzai@fas.harvard.edu

About Me

Dr Shabir Choudhry has done extensive research on the issue of Kashmir and Indo Pakistan relations. He passed BA Honours in Politics and History, and Mphil in International Relations (title of the thesis, ‘Kashmir and Partition of India’); and title of his PhD thesis is ‘Kashmir- An issue of a nation not a dispute of a land’.

Apart from this Dr Shabir Choudhry passed Post Graduates Certificates in Education, and NVQ Assessor’s qualifications; and taught English in London.

Political Achievements

Founder member of JKLF (Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front established in 1977) and got elected as a Press Secretary in 1984.

Became its Secretary General in 1985, and resigned from this post in 1996.

Got elected President of JKLF and Europe in May 1999, and decided not to contest in elections of July 2001.

Said good - bye to the JKLF as it is in many groups and is largely seen as advancing a Pakistani agenda on Kashmir dispute, and set up a new party Kashmir National Party in May 2008.

.

At present, he is:

·Spokesman Kashmir National Party and Director Diplomatic Committee;

·Spokesman for International KashmirAlliance;

·Founder member and Director Institute of Kashmir Affairs;

Previously

·A founder Member and Trustee/ Director of London based registered charity, Kashmir Foundation International and resigned from this position in August 2001.

·Regularly take part in the Sessions of the UN Human Rights (Commission) now Council in Geneva; and address various conferences and seminars to oppose violence and highlight the Kashmir cause.

·Participated in a Round Table Conference on Kashmir, organised by Socialist Group of European Parliament in Brussels in 1993.

·Addressed as a Chief Guest in a seminar on issue of Mangla Dam during the UN Sub Commission’s proceedings in August 2003.

·Addressed as a key - note speaker in a seminar on the issue of Gilgit and Baltistan, organised by Association of British Kashmiris.

·Addressed as a keynote speaker on human rights conference in Paris in 1991.

·Addressed at CambridgeUniversity as a Chief Guest in a conference on Kashmir in 1990.

·Addressed as a keynote speaker at New Delhi conference on Kashmir, which was part of Track Two diplomacy in November 2000.

·In September 2008, addressed a Conference arranged by Interfaith International in Geneva, topic of which was:“Kashmir Issue, Terrorism and Human Rights”.

·Addressed as a speaker in a NGO Conference on Self - Determination in Geneva in August 2000.

·Addressed as a keynote speaker in a fringe meeting of Liberal Democrats at their Annual Conference in Brighton in 1995.

·Participated in World Human Rights Conference in Vienna in 1993.

·Before President Clinton's visit to India and Pakistan in 2000, lead a JKLF delegation to the State Department to discuss Kashmir dispute and situation in South Asia.

·Also had two rounds of meetings with senior State Department officials before President Musharraf’s meeting to Washington in June 2003.

·Apart from that had meetings with senior officials including Ministers of different countries, and also held many meetings with the State Department and Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials on number of occasions.

·Played important role in advancing a Kashmiri perspective on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir; and also helped Baroness Emma Nicholson with her report ‘Kashmir: present situation and future prospects’, which was adopted by the European Parliament in May 2007.

·Won first prize in an essay competition in Urdu in 1976. It was organised by High Commission of Pakistan in London, and title of the essay was 'Qaaid-e- Azam's role in Islamic History'.

·Apart from that have addressed conferences in Brussels, Geneva, Toronto, Islamabad, Delhi, and

Publications

·Got first Urdu novel ‘Fareena’ published at the age of eighteen.

·Second Urdu novel ‘Bay-Khataa’ which was about the problems of Asian youths living in UK published in 1983.

·Third Urdu book ‘Pakistan and Kashmiri struggle for independence’ published in 1990.

·Fourth Urdu book is also on Kashmiri struggle, 'Is an independent Kashmir a conspiracy?'

·Apart from that has twenty books and booklets published in English on various aspects of the Kashmiri struggle.

·Recent publications are: Kashmir dispute as I see it

·Different perspective on Kashmir

·JKLF visit to Pakistan Administered Kashmir

·Kashmir Needs Change of Heart

·If not self - determination then what?

·Emma Nicholson report- who has won?

·Struggle for independence, Jihad or proxy war (Introduction by Baroness Emma Nicholson)

·

Future publications

Following books were completed some time ago and shall be published in near future:

In Search of Freedom - My visit to Srinagar and Islamabad

Kashmir and Partition of India

A brief background

Dr Shabir Choudhry was born in a small village called Nakker Shimali (near Panjeri) in District Bhimber, Azad Kashmir. He went to UK in 1966, and like other people from the region, holds a dual nationality. He left secondary school in 1970 with no qualifications and began his life as a textile worker.

In 1975 he started part time studies and passed Matriculation from Government High School Panjeri, passed ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels from UK, and resumed full time degree course in 1981, and passed BA (Hons) in Politics and History in 1984.

He continued full time and part time jobs until he got his Mphil. He passed his PGCE (Post Graduates Certificate in Education) in 1990, and then started full time job as a Lecturer. Due to health problems he resigned from teaching in 1999. At present he is self - employed, provides private tuition, translation and interpretation and consultancy.

Through out his adult life he has actively worked for the cause of Kashmir, and even during long illness he effectively carried out his responsibilities as a leader of the JKLF, a ‘prolific writer’ and consistent campaigner of Rights Movement and peace in Jammu and Kashmir and South Asia.